Coming up on Leap Year Day

"I have heard/seen what hard conditions others have chosen to serve a mission with and it's humbling to me that I am so blessed. It really is. We have a great family. I see families every day go through hard times. We are truly blessed! Don't take it for granted."

"I have been learning to listen to the spirit better and acting on It's promptings. It is fun to see what comes of following the spirit when prompted to do so. Nothing bad ever happens, it's just the natural man that scares me into not doing it all of the time."

"This last Thursday was our zone conference. At the very end of the zone conference, we watched a talk that Elder Holland gave to the MTC missionaries in Provo a year and a couple months ago. It was a very good one. He talked about the new method of Preach My Gospel rather than the old way they did stuff by memorizing the stuff to say... it was a very good talk. Very good. I asked Pres Holm for a copy of it. He's going to distribute it to those that want in in a month or so. I'll send it home for Joshua to watch before he goes out on his mission. It's very inspirational and energizing and leads to much self evaluation and rededication."

Is your mission a bit hard?

"Hard to me means: I don't feel like I can handle it. So no, it's not hard at all. It's nice to be free of all worries of normal life stuff. There's no, 'what am I going to do with my life?' because I already know: I serve a mission!"

How do you keep a study journal?

I bought the biggest heavy duty binder I could find. I've got tabs from A to Z. I have normal lined paper, reinforced lined paper, sheet protectors, note cards, and an index to say what A to Z tabs mean. 

A is full of District Meeting notes. We have a District Development Meeting (DDM) almost every week.
B is full of zone conference notes, transfer meeting notes, or other mission conferences notes.
C has every other meeting: stake conference, ward conference, who knows... everything else meetings.
D is nothing yet.
E is Preach My Gospel (PMG) Chapter 3, Lesson 1 notes. Everything to do with the restoration: relationships with God, Holy Ghost, depictions associating with Dispensations, prophets, Joseph Smith, Atonement, how Christ set up his church, etc).
F is PMG Ch 3 Lesson 2. Everything with Plan of Salvation.
G is PMG Ch 3 Lesson 3. Gospel of Jesus Christ.
H is PMG Ch 3 Lesson 4. Commandments.
I is PMG Ch 3 Lesson 5. New member lessons, temple, Priesthood, etc.
J is PMG Ch 3 Lesson plans
K is Book of Mormon reading. Insights, summary, analogies, etc. Ex: Ch 47 of Alma you can compare Lehonti to us on top of the hill being tempted by Satan (Amaliklah) to try to get us to lower our standards. The hight of Lehonti being the standards he holds.
L is nothing yet.
M is every random topic not in PMG lessons. Last days, trials, being a 'doer', angels, authority, diligence, judging, scriptures, significance of doing everything "In the name of Jesus Christ", trust, voice of Spirit, word, Law of Moses, purpose as missionary, presence of God, Charity, Children, fear, foundations, God-like potential, parenting skills, miracles, sin, etc. That's what I have so far.
N-V is nothing yet.
W is quotes or handouts, or stories, songs, poems.
X is activities
Y is companion's letters to me before we're not companions anymore.
Z is miscellaneous. Questions I come across, answers I find, ways to greet people, object lesson, other in sights.

For those of you who don't really have the time to write Elder Benjamin Walker, but would still like to ask questions or whatever, write them on the comment section of the blog and I'll get them to him and write his responses on the blog when I get them.